Emmet mattress recycling effort to feed Gaylord business

April 03, 2012

HARBOR SPRINGS — Emmet County Recycling notes that its newest recycling opportunity—a pilot project to recycle old mattresses—will supply a new Northern Michigan business while saving area residents money on disposal of unwanted mattresses.

Mattresses, box springs and futons can now be recycled at the Emmet County Drop-off Center, 7363 Pleasantview Road, Harbor Springs.

While the center charges a fee to recycle them, it is significantly less than the cost to landfill the same items.

Twin- and single-size pieces are $8 each to recycle; double, queen and king sizes are $12 per piece. Compared to fees of $11 and $22, respectively, for landfill disposal of these items, recycling will save customers as much as 45 percent.

Michigan Mattress Recyclers in Gaylord will disassemble the mattresses, springs, and futons and recycle the component materials in demand as industrial commodities including wood, cotton, polyurethane padding and steel.

Emmet County and the Gaylord business expect mattress recycling will be a great deal all around.

“Of course, recycling mattresses will be better for the environment than burying all those resources in a landfill,” said Elisa Seltzer, director of Emmet County Recycling. “At the same time, this is another example of how recycling benefits the economy: creating new jobs right here in Northern Michigan and saving our customers money. It’s a win-win-win proposition: environment, jobs, and savings for the customer.”

Organizers believe the potential impact of the project is huge: in 2011, the Emmet County Waste Transfer Station disposed of more than 1,000 mattresses, box springs and futons. Drop-off Center staff anticipate even more mattresses will come in this year because of enthusiasm for recycling and the lower prices. Nationally, an estimated 20 million mattresses are thrown away each year, with only roughly 250,000 of these currently being recycled.